Craft brewers Ska Brewing and DC Brau have joined forces with Ska legends The Pietasters to create a collaboration brew called "Taster's Choice"—a Coffee-Doppelbock—to be released March 27th at Washington D.C.'s Black Cat nightclub at a party featuring The Pietasters. Proceeds from the beer and the party will go to the Todd Eckhardt Scholarship Fund, set up to honor the memory of former Pietasters bassist and songwriter Todd Eckhardt, who passed away in 2001. The fund benefits students at the Duke Ellington School of the Arts through the Ellington Fund.

"All I can say is that there seemed to be empyrean forces driving this collaboration. It had to happen," said Ska President and Co-founder Dave Thibodeau. "I met Brandon [Skall, DC Brau co-owner along with Jeff Hancock] at an event in D.C. during SAVOR. I loved his beers, and we both loved a lot of D.C. bands, including The Pietasters. Then it turned out the Pietasters' drummer also works at DC Brau." When these common threads were combined with the Craft Beer Conference's (CBC) location in D.C. this year and Denver next year, the cosmic signposts were too obvious to ignore.

The brewers hatched a plan to make "Taster's Choice" at DC Brau's facility in Washington D.C., and release it during CBC at an event featuring the Pietasters. Next year, Ska and DC Brau will again join forces, this time at Ska's Durango, Colorado location, to create another collaborative brew for release at next year's CBC in Denver.

Also participating in the transcontinental collaboration are Durango's Desert Sun Coffee Roasters and D.C.'s Chesapeake Bay Roasting Company, both of which donated coffee beans for the project. Country Malt Group not only donated the malt for the beer, but also gave a generous cash donation to the Scholarship Fund, and Yankee Schooner donated the printing.